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Chevrolet Silverado 250 has potential for NASCAR nastiness

Three of the four NASCAR Camping World Series truck races at the track once known as Mosport have had down-and-dirty mayhem at the finish line. Two-time series champion Matt Crafton says he won’t look for trouble on Sunday, but knows it might find him.

When John Hunter Nemechek won the fourth Chevrolet Silverado 250 race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park a year ago this Labour Day weekend, all hell broke loose afterward.

The final 100 metres of racing saw Nemechek and fellow NASCAR Camping World Series truck racer Cole Custer both off the racing surface and on the grass, with Nemechek turned into Custer and pinning his opponent hard against the inside guardrail and Custer trying like all get-out to escape.

When Nemechek started to celebrate his victory later, Custer ran across the track to tackle him and a brawl ensued involving both drivers and their crews before order was restored.

It was not the first time at CTMP where there was controversy at the checkers. In fact, three of the four truck races to date — and the fifth goes to the post Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the legendary circuit north of Bowmanville — have ended with truck-against-truck bodily contact.

More than one driver has been heard to say, as a result, that he wouldn’t want to be leading on the last lap because of the potential for confrontation.

Not Matt Crafton, though. In an interview with the Star this week, the two-time series champion from Tulare, Calif., not only says he wants to be in front on the last lap but that nobody had better try any funny business with him or they will live to regret it.

“I don’t go looking for trouble,” he said. “I’m a hard racer but I’m a fair racer. So if anybody either takes advantage of me, or tries to take advantage of me, I guarantee that I will repay the favour probably tenfold in the races ahead. It would not be a wise move on their part.”

NASCAR stock car or truck racing is known to be a “contact sport,” where it’s considered kosher to bump another driver out of the way rather than pass them on speed.

But Crafton isn’t a fan and hasn’t been impressed by some of the things that have happened at CTMP over the years, beginning with the first year when current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup star Chase Elliott won his first NASCAR touring series race by ramming Ty Dillon out of the way at the last second.

“I race people the way they want to be raced,” Crafton said. “And, hopefully, they race me the way they want to be raced. I’ll be honest — I’ve seen a lot of things happen at that race track I definitely wouldn’t do.”

What Crafton wants to do this weekend, however, is prove that he’s the most versatile driver in the Camping World series. The trucks race 23 times a season, mostly on paved oval tracks of a mile or more — with two exceptions: a dirt-track oval race on the short (⅝-mile) Eldora Speedway in Ohio and a road-course race at CTMP.

To the surprise of many, Crafton won the dirt race at Eldora last month and now has his sights set on winning at CTMP. Overall, he sits third in the standings going into this weekend’s race behind points leader Christopher Bell and defending champion Johnny Sauter, both of whom will also be at Old Mosport along with other young tigers like Austin Cindric, Ryan Truex, Cody Coughlin, Todd Gilliland and, yes, Nemechek (Custer has moved up the NASCAR ladder).

“I worked hard to win that dirt race,” Crafton said. “I bought my own dirt car, and learned it and studied it and tried to become a dirt racer. There were times I thought I was a dirt track guy and then there were times I got a reality check.”

And has he worked as hard at winning on the road course?

“Yes, I have, he said. “I haven’t gone and bought a road course car but I bought a go-kart and I practice it all the time.”

The Chevrolet Silverado 250 is the headline event of a weekend of racing that also features the second-last race of the NASCAR Canada Pinty’s Series for stock cars, the championship-settling finale of the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada as well as rounds of the Canadian Touring Car Championship and the Nissan Micra Cup.

Practice, qualifying and some racing takes place Saturday with the Pinty’s Series race scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday, followed by the mid-afternoon start for the trucks.

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